Global food-delivery company currently testing new eco-friendly sauce sachets

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LONDON, England – Following the company’s March announcement that it was planning to implement measures to lessen the effect of takeout food on the United Kingdom’s plastic-waste levels, global online marketplace Just Eat is now testing environmentally friendly sauce sachets.

According to a press release that the food-delivery company sent out on Monday, Just Eat has teamed up with Skipping Rocks Lab, a British manufacturer of sustainable packaging, to create the new Ooho! seaweed-based sauce sachets for ketchup and garlic sauce. Just Eat has launched a six-week trial of the Ooho! sachets, which are fully compostable and decompose in less than six weeks.

The trial is currently being conducted at The Fat Pizza, a restaurant in the south end of London.

“The Ooho! sauce-sachets trial and the results from it will form an important part of our ongoing work to develop innovative and credible alternatives to traditional single-use plastic packaging currently in use across the takeaway sector,” said Graham Corfield, the U.K. managing director of Just Eat, in a press statement Monday.

“At Just Eat, we’re committed to helping reduce the impact of the takeaway industry on plastic-waste levels, and we’ve already taken measures to drive more environmentally friendly behaviour among our restaurant partners and customers,” Corfield added.

“We’re delighted to now be taking our commitment a step further, through our partnership with Skipping Rocks Lab.”

Pierre Paslier, the co-founder of Skipping Rocks Lab, said in a statement that his company was “thrilled” to be teaming up with Just Eat for this trial project.

“As an innovative sustainable packaging start-up,” said Paslier, “we are passionate about pioneering the use of natural materials extracted from plants and seaweed to create packaging with low environmental impact.”

He added that Ooho! sachets are 100 per cent plant-based and naturally biodegradable, “making them a natural and sustainable alternative to single-use plastic packaging.”

Four months ago, Just Eat announced a package of measures to decrease the excessive plastics used in U.K. takeout deliveries. Among other measures, the company made a commitment to work with industry experts on researching and developing innovative, practical alternatives for single-use plastics.

The company has also stopped selling single-use plastics and added a pre-ticked box on its website and Smartphone app to encourage customers to reject plastic waste. Twenty per cent of respondents voted for less plastic in takeout orders, the release noted.

The new Ooho! ketchup and garlic-sauce sachets are made out of an alginate-based material. Consumers can open them as easily as they can any regular sachets, and they can dispose of them into home composts or normal trash receptacles.

The Fat Pizza is offering a chance to win a £100 Just Eat voucher for customers who receive Ooho! sachets with their takeout orders, according to Sunny Chhina, the restaurant owner.

“As an independent business owner, I want to make sure I’m doing my part to help fight plastic pollution in the takeaway industry,” said Chhina.

“The commitment Just Eat has made to reduce the impact of plastic waste is fantastic, and I am thrilled to be part of this exciting initiative.”

Based in London, Just Eat is a leading global marketplace for online food delivery, working with 29,000 restaurant partners in the U.K. and 87,500 worldwide.

Skipping Rocks Lab is the winner of the 2014 Lexus Design Award, the 2016 U.K. Energy Globe Award, and other honours for its eco-friendly packaging solutions.